Arteta stays on, and looks to keep the upward momentum running

 

 

By Bulldog Drummond

• • How referees justify VAR, how Man U justify losses, and how Arsenal cope with injuries
  • How few clubs are matching Arsenal for progress

The New York Times has an article on the strength of various clubs in the Premier League and of Arsenal says, “Similar to City. New signing Mikel Merino strengthens the midfield and they’ve not lost any major players, but are slightly weaker than City in attack.”

So there is not much to learn there, but scrolling down the list we find that in 10th spot, above Brighton and West Ham’s first XI we have Arsenal 2nd XI, of which they say, “there are hardly any holes. This lot could compete for a Europa League spot if all went well. Bags of experience and some real talent in attack.”

We obviously all know what the first XI is like but who have they put in the second XI – a team that they rank as above the first XI of over half the clubs in the Premier League is rather interesting….

Here it is

Martinelli  Jesus  Sterling

Nawneri Jorginho Partey

Zinchenko  Calafiori  Kiwior  Tomiyasu

Neto

 

Meanwhile, we also have reports that Mikel Arteta has, as we all expected, but as some journalists were suggesting was in doubt, signed a new three-year contract with Arsenal which starts at the end of this season.  In June the Guardian reported him as saying his situation at Arsenal, “motivates me, keeps me on my toes, and it keeps me hungry to go again.”  And so he is doing – going again.

Arteta had signed an extension to his previous contract in May 2022 but the new contract arrangements were delayed until after the transfer window closed.  The usual bunch of scurrilous whatnots then started suggesting that was because he knew that the current manager of Manchester City was going to leave at the end of this season, and he was hoping for that job.

That was all mindless gibberish of course, so pretty much indistinguishable from the rest of what fills the football pages of blogs and newspapers but it obviously helped fill up some space when there was nothing else to write about (given that criticising Manchester City for its legal action against the legau and the 115 charges against it, is off limits).

So that means Arteta is now going to be at Arsenal for this season and the two subsequent seasons unless the owners suddenly decide to sack him – which would cost the club an awful lot of money and be incredibly stupid.

Arteta’s interview in August led him to say, “I’m in the place where I want to be and am really happy – hopefully the club thinks the same thing.  I work with the players every day and when I am talking to them, having discussions and planning things, you sense in their eyes that belief and hunger is still there.”

Of course beside the FA Cup Arteta hasn’t won anything, but then in the days when Wenger was winning stuff, there were not any state-funded clubs in the league.  Now there is, it clearly makes the job of winning the league tougher.  

But leaving the state-funded clubs aside, Arteta must surely want to show himself to be a better manager than Wenger, and so it is of interest perhaps (well, to me if no one else) to compare last season when we came second, with Wenger’s greatest season – the Unbeaten.

 

Season	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
2003–04	38	26	12	0	73	26	47	90
2023–24	38	28	5	5	91	29	62	89

 

What is interesting to me is that last season Arsenal actually won two more games than in the Unbeaten season – but of course last season, five games were defeats.   However (and I think this is interesting when we still hear people bleating on and on about needing a new centre forward and what a disaster the window was because we didn’t get one), Arsenal last season scored 18 goals more than in the Unbeaten campaign, but only conceded three more.  As a result the goal difference last season was +15 better than in the Unbeaten season.

And the points difference, as you can see, was just one.

Better still the number of wins has gone up each season across the last five campaigns (15, 18, 22, 26, 28) and although at first the number of defeats rose slightly, in the last three campaigns they have gone down: 13, 6, 5).  Goals have also risen across the last four seasons, (61,69, 84, 89).

Meanwhile we have an ever-improving Saka in the squad.   For although Saka is not yet at Aubameyang’s level of goal scoring, his numbers are going up year by year: 12, 15, 20 in the last three.  It feels like progress all-round.